Granular claw crab

Oedignathus inermis

Crustaceans
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–24 m
Water temperature4–20 °C
Best monthsJune, July, and August
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Toby, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Oedignathus inermis, commonly known as the granular claw crab, paxillose crab, or tuberculate nestling lithode crab, is a species of king crab in the subfamily Hapalogastrinae. It is found off the Pacific coasts of the United States and Canada, from California to the Chukchi Sea. It is also distributed in the Russian Far East and disjunctly around the coasts of Japan. It is the only species in the genus Oedignathus, from Ancient Greek οἰδάω (oidáō), meaning "to swell", and γνάθος (gnáthos), meaning "jaw".

Text from the Wikipedia article “Oedignathus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 13 records
February: 11 records
March: 15 records
April: 36 records
May: 65 records
June: 78 records
July: 102 records
August: 105 records
September: 15 records
October: 17 records
November: 14 records
December: 14 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–24 m · Deepest record: 40 m

0–10 m: 67 records
10–20 m: 13 records
20–30 m: 16 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 4–20 °C

2–4 °C: 1 records
4–6 °C: 1 records
6–8 °C: 0 records
8–10 °C: 23 records
10–12 °C: 78 records
12–14 °C: 12 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 6 records

Photos

(c) Matt Muir, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Erin McKittrick, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Erin McKittrick, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Matt Muir, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lee Cain, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Granular claw crab, Granular claw king crab, granular claw crab, granular claw king crab

Names in 3 more languages

French: crabe royal inerme
Japanese: イボガニ
Korean: 두드러기어리게

Other scientific names: Hapalogaster Brandti, Hapalogaster inermis, Oedignathus gilli

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
208 open-data records from 1904 to 2023.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.

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